02/05/2011

New Orleans Foodyssey III: Breakfast

Below is the third best breakfast I've ever had in my life. What is it, and what are the other 2? Read on, baby …

This, my dearest friends, is Mother's black ham and grits. You may have read about Mother's in Foodyssey I, but this is the best thing I ate there. Grits are a religion in the Deep South - made from roughly ground maize, they are similar to polenta or South African pap. Sometimes white, sometimes yellow, they are nearly always savoury and eaten with butter and sometimes cheese, ham or anything else that takes the fancy.

Mother's always has a queue, and the waitress calls everyone baby.

Now on to another fine breakfast.

Chicken fried steak [translation: a thin steak, seasoned, floured and fried like fried chicken], home fries [translation: diced, seasoned, fried potatoes], country gravy [translation: thick, peppery white sauce] and egg [translation: egg], served in Deja Vu cafe, by the wonderful Frank, who was in the Ninth Ward when the hurricane hit …

Oh, we're back at Deja Vu again, are we? Excellent. Demonstrating the disturbing but wonderful talent Americans have for combining sweet and savoury, below is fried ham, fried eggs and French toast, with icing sugar and maple syrup, and strong black coffee.

Across the room a cop was drinking coffee. It was like the Simpsons. Brilliant.

Oh yeah - the two best breakfasts? Dry tuna curry with cold coconut rice (Sri Lanka), and chilaquiles (Oaxaca, Mexico). Yum oh yum oh ever so much yum. But right up close behind them is those grits and black ham. Someone post me some? Please?